In my opinion it's a lot faster to set up a new system instead of fixing a broken one.

I you are able to log in you can back up all your data. For instance if you have another machine laying around you can copy your files over. Or attach an external harddrive and copy your stuff onto it.

Logging in works yes, how to start my graphical system? I agree it's easier to start from scratch but I want to keep my data and i don't have any install cd
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DenisMay 16 '10 at 7:42

don't reinstall from scratch if possible! it is these situation which teach you how the system works and how to troubleshoot it
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Jakob CosoroabaMay 16 '10 at 8:08

1

You are right Midday! But after fiddling and lerning: Backup and reinstall. It's just safer. YOu don't know if the update broke something except the graphical system and this broken package hits you when you least expect it.
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lajuetteMay 16 '10 at 8:43

As for updating to newer version, I had problems with that too, so I usually just reinstall every time. The simple trick is that I have my /home directory on a separate partition, so I don't lose my data when I reinstall the system. I just have to remember installing every package I need.

This method has one problem, though. If you have several system-wide configurations (which is rare for home users), then you lose it when reinstalling. Having /var on a separate partition may help in some cases, though.

I went from 8.04 to 10.04 throw every version each at the time and system still working fine. For your method you can extract a list of installed packages as described in this article ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=92238 and then feed this list to apt-get to install them on the new system. Also important your sources-list. Good you mentioned system-wide configs like swappiness and such
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Jakob CosoroabaMay 16 '10 at 8:06

I suggest that you backup your data and reinstall with a separate /home partition. Next time you will have less problem should your upgrade fail.
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petersohnMay 16 '10 at 8:51

@Midday: you are a lucky, lucky person! Upgrading any OS is a risky proposition that I wouldn't recommend; in Ubuntu it may not be as bad as it used to be, but surviving four dist-upgrades is still impressive indeed. +1 @petersohn: keep your documents on a separate partition (whether including the home directory or not) and fresh OS installs are a breeze.
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bobinceMay 16 '10 at 12:38

@bobince: Keeping the whole /home on a separate partition is a good idea because it contains all the settings, not only the documents. Plus, on Linux under normal circumstances, a user only has write access to their home directory (plus /tmp).
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petersohnMay 16 '10 at 14:08

Well. There is a good way to install the nvidia driver correctly and the avoid problems later. Here is a great howto, step-by-step, easy-to-use.

But let me correct it out, regarding the 10.04 release !
First of all (before steps), download the "dkms" pack from the bottom of the post on the linked page, and the nvidia driver from nvidia.com into your home directory.
Step1, remove the drivers. Fix the "180" to "190" or "195" , don't sure how Ubuntu calls it at the minutre.
At step 2, edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf . Add 2 new entries to the end:blacklist nvblacklist nouveau

Then do a reboot, at the boot menu, select recovery mode. Go with the "root mode with networking" (or what, its at the bottom, you will be able to identify it, don't worry about the instructions. :))

Now, install the driver with sudo sh ./NV* . There will be an error about "distributor provided.." don't care about it, just agree, yes yes (more, grep, fsck :)).

After it finishes, do a sudo nvidia-xconfig . THEN, do the sudo sh ./installdkms* part. After it finishes, you are done, reboot.

Yeah I'm aware of the howto and how its 'harder' than the "install restricted modules". However, a lot of people noticed issues , anomalies with the default driver. This way you will get the NVidia binary driver, more recent than the one Ubuntu ships, and it won't be a problem during kernel upgrades. Also, you can upgrade the driver by hand whenever you want. If you get stuck, comment, ask. (Check which part seems to be hard , check if you can find that blacklist and such before you dive in.)